The so-called CRomnibus package is up for a vote in Congress this week – and supporters of NASA are cheering it on. If approved in the House and Senate, the federal spending appropriations for the 2015 fiscal year would give the space agency enough funding to send the Mars 2020 rover to the Red Planet on time and to invest in a flagship mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Employees at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge spent a busy year in 2014 launching new missions and receiving data that will forever change the way we think about the planets in our solar system and the universe beyond.
At the...

NASA’s Kepler Space telescope — developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge — passed a milestone with the verification of eight new planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, bringing the total number of exoplanets to 1,004....

Most people know what a difference a day makes. But anyone who’s ever been to the annual Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory knows it’s the milliseconds that count.
That’s where area students with a penchant...

Officials from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently celebrated with local city officials and employees the completion of a five-story, 1,450-space parking structure that has been part of the facility's master plan for nearly 50 years.
In a...

Ten Years Ago
A $264-million NASA mission to bring back samples of solar wind to analyze for clues to the origin of our solar system came to an end in Utah when the JPL-managed Genesis spacecraft’s sample return capsule crashed at an estimated 193 miles per hour. The project manager appeared crestfallen as he made the announcement. “It is a difficult moment,” Donald Sweetnam told news media gathered to cover the event. Later it was learned that some of the samples collected by the...

Tickets are on sale now for the Community Center’s annual Casino Night, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 23, to kick off the city’s annual Fiesta Days activities. Ticket information is available online at www.cclcf.org.
The event is expected to bring together more than 200 people for a fun evening of Black Jack, Craps, Roulette and a Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament. Guests will also have the opportunity to bid on prizes in both the silent auction and prize raffles.
The major...

Is third time the charm? NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is considering boring into the third rock ever drilled on the Red Planet, a sandstone that could potentially reveal a wealth of information about past life-friendly environments, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The rover already did a little test-drilling Tuesday on the target rock known as “Windjana,” named for a gorge in Western Australia, according to officials at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, which...

Don Yeomans, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory Fellow, senior research scientist and manager of NASA's Near Earth Objects Program Office, will be the guest speaker on May 12 when the La Cañada Flintridge Coordinating Council holds its annual Les Tupper Awards ceremony in von Karman Auditorium on the JPL campus. The event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the community.
Yeomans' topic is "Near Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us." Yeomans was the Radio Science team chief for NASA's Near Earth Asteroid...

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama released his $3.9 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2015. The plan sets aside $1.28 billion for planetary exploration — an amount one elected official is calling a far cry from what will be required to get JPL missions to Mars and Europa off the ground by 2020.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said in a news release last week the overall outlook of planetary science funding appears better than years past but is still insufficient to meet priorities laid...

What a wonderful Fiesta Days weekend!
Thank you to Pat Anderson, June Beemer and Starr Frazier in the LCF Chamber of Commerce office for keeping us going and supporting the volunteers!
Thank you to Suzanne Hart, Barbara Marshall and all the volunteers who helped to make Fiesta Days 2014 a smashing success!
Thank you to all of our sponsors who are the backbone of this outstanding community event: Wells Fargo Bank, the Allen Lund Co., Allied Waste Services, Athens Services, NASA Services and, of course,...

Predicted low voter-turnout in the upcoming June 3 election does not hold Pamala Matsumoto back. The legal veteran and La Cañada mom is a candidate for the Los Angeles Supreme Court bench, seat 22, with more than 25 years of experience working in Los Angeles courtrooms.
"They're expecting maybe 200,000 to 300,000 to show up to the polls. Out of 9 million that's not many people," Matsumoto said.
On Sundays, she campaigns at the Rose Bowl Flea Market and on weeknights attends debates for candidates in...